Roses to the undefeated young women of Chapel Hill High School and their coaches after winning the school’s second N.C. High School Athletics Association girls basketball championship. Coach Sherry Norris guided her team to a 32-0 record, culminating in last Saturday’s 69-56 victory over Hickory in the NCHSAA 3A state championship game, played in the Smith Center.

Chapel Hill’s Raziyah Farrington was voted Most Valuable Player of the 2014 championship game, while senior Catherine Romaine was named the team’s Most Outstanding Player in the tournament. Jessica Wall was given the Farm Bureau Sportsmanship Award.

The 2014 championship season was historic for Chapel Hill. No other Tiger team has finished the year undefeated and with so many wins. And the Tigers did it in impressive fashion, outscoring their opponents 2-to-1 and beating them by an average margin of 37 points.

Norris, already in the NCHSAA pantheon of “100 to Remember,” previously coached the Chapel Hill basketball program to its first state championship in 1981 and the volleyball team to state championships in 1994 and 2003. She, assistant coaches John French and Sandy Rasnake and their young players spoke all season about wanting to make history at Chapel Hill, and they did just that.

Roses to Alderwoman Jacquie Gist for advocating for an affordable and artsy Carrboro. At a meeting to discuss forming an arts district recently, Gist cautioned that she does not want to see an increased emphasis on the arts outprice those who currently contribute to the Paris of the Piedmont’s joie de vivre.

It’s an important issues as the town grows. A community can make different choices about how to include the arts in its economic and cultural development. It can require public art, it can encourage and even compensate street performers to enliven the public square, it can provide funding for artists inside and out to share and nurture talent.

From our vantage Carrboro has been building a fine foundation with its music, film and poetry festivals; homegrown Carrboro Day and Fourth of July celebrations, and with more random happenings (can you say yarn bomb?) It would be a shame if town choices over-institutionalize the town’s artistic scene and hasten the condo-ing of the still funky burg.

Others have tried to organize the Carrboro arts community before, and a federal grant application last year failed to win funding for planning. So there’s still plenty of time to participate in the discussion. If you’re interested, join the Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/creativecarrboro

Roses from reader Gail Brick and family to Stephen Rayfield, a drama teacher at McDougle Middle School “for the energetic planning and flawless execution of a five-day trip for the school’s drama students to New York City. The students enjoyed a wonderful learning experience. Many thanks Mr. Rayfield!”

Roses from reader Nell Richardson, who writes: “Last Sunday afternoon, I parked on Franklin Street, in Chapel Hill, and unknowingly dropped my car keys when I got out of my car. Later, when I returned, someone had picked up and put the keys on the hood of the car. If whoever did this noteworthy deed sees this, please know I am very grateful. It is encouraging to know there are people like that still around.”